Cloth article hemming and stacking method and apparatus



1967 w. J. ROTHFUSS ETAL 3,295,433

CLOTH ARTICLE HEMMING AND STAGKING METHOD AND APPARATUS Filed Oct. 12, 1964 v 4 Sheets-Sheet l IiHHHHHHii T0 lN SPECT ION FIG I INVENTORS WILLIAM J ROTHFUSS DAVID E. ROBINSON RONALD W. EMUS ATTORNEY Jan. 3, 1967 w. J. ROTHFUSS ETAL 3,295,433

CLOTH ARTICLE HEMMING AND STACKING METHOD AND APPARATUS Filed Oct. 12, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 [NVENTORS WILLIAM J. ROTHFUSS DAVID E. ROBINSON RONALD W. EMUS ATTORNEY 'Jan- 1967 w..:. ROTHFUSS ETAL 3,295,483

CLOTH ARTICLE HEMMING AND STACKING METHOD AND APPARATUS vFiled Oct. 12, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 FIG} INVENTORS ATTORNEY Jan. 3, 1967 w. J. ROTHFUSS ETAL CLOTH ARTICLE HEMMING AND STACKING METHOD AND APPARATUS 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Oct. 12, 1964 moi INVENTORS WILLIAM Jv ROTHFUSS DAVID E. ROBINSON RONALD W. EMUS ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,295,483 CLOTH ARTICLE HEli/lh/HNG AND STACKING METHOD AND APPARATUS William J. Roth fuss, David E. Robinson, and Ronald W.

Emus, Greenville, S.C., assignors to Southern Machinery Company, Greer, S.C., a corporation of South Carolina Filed Oct. 12, 1964, Ser. No. 403,255 6 Claims. (Cl. 112-2) This invention relates to a method of and apparatus for hemming and stacking cloth articles, such as bath towels and the like.

Traditionally, in the manufacture of bath towels, hems are sewn on both ends of each towel using a high speed sewing machine and a hemming attachment operated by a human operator. In this prior art method, one hem is produced at one end of the towel and then without disconnecting the hemming thread, the opposite end of the towel is fed through the hemming attachment by folding the towel back upon itself. This produces a second hem on the second end of the towel. The next towel is then placed closely behind the first towel and the above process is repeated in such a way that a continuous chain of towels linked together by the hemming threads is discharged from the sewing machine into a large bin or box.

The connected hemmed towels are then manually picked out from the bin and the threads joining them are pulled apart or cut manually, usually by one or two workers, who then stack the towels in a flat arrangement on an inspection table. Most generally, one worker will perform this operation for the output of from three to six sewing machine stations. The stack of towels on the inspection table is then turned over one towel at a time and both ends or hems are inspected for defects, and after this is completed, the hemming thread ends are trimmed off by scissors prior to packaging for shipment.

The object of this invention is to improve upon and simplify the above method or procedure and to reduce considerably the labor required in the processing of the towels and an apparatus has been provided to assist in practicing the improved method and for rendering auto- 1 matic or semi-automatic some of the method steps.

According to the invention method, at a first sewing machine station, one end only of each towel in a group of towels is hemmed, and as successive towels hemmed at one end pass from the sewing machine, the connecting thread is automatically cut between towels. The towels are automatically conveyed from the hemming station to and beyond the thread cutting station and they are ultimately brought automatically to the stacking station where they are automatically stacked in superposed relation with their hemmed ends facing in one direction and their unhemmed ends facing in the opposite direction.

Near the stacking station at a convenient location a second complete invention apparatus including a second sewing machine station and operator is provided. This operator pulls the unhemmed ends of towels from the previously formed stack and proceeds to'hem the other end of each towel in exactly the same manner and using duplicate apparatus to that employed at the first hemming station. Upon hemming, thread cutting, conveying and stacking at the second station, a finished stack of towels already hemmed and separated one from the other is provided ready for inspection. In addition to eliminating the labor for manually removing the towels from the previously used bins and manually separating the towels, the invention method provides for trimming the hemming threads close enough to the towels to further eliminate the subsequent final trimming which usually follows the inspection process. The invention also permits the use of more fully automatic means of visual inspection and has other advantages and economies. A chief benefit of the invention process not already mentioned is that the sewing machine operator at each station is permitted to sew at maximum speed, without the necessity for hesitating to find the second end of each towel and feed it closely behind the first hemmed end. In general, the invention method and apparatus greatly simplifies the entire procedure, reduces labor costs and results in a superior end product having greater uniformity and neatness.

Other specific objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent during the course of the following description.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this application and in which like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the same,

FIGURE 1 is a partly diagrammatic plan view of the complete apparatus employed in the practice of the method, including duplicate work stations;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevation of the apparatus at one work station;

FIGURE 3 is a similar view of the apparatus showing towels or like cloth articles being processed;

FIGURE4 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevation of conveyer mechanism with the cover panels thereof removed for illustrative purposes; and

FIGURE 5 is a vertical section taken on line 5-5 of FIGURE 3 and showing the actual stacking operation.

While the invention has been illustrated and will be described in terms of the processing of bath towels, nevertheless it should be understood that the invention is equally applicable to all cloth articles requiring hemming on two ends thereof.

In the drawings wherein for the purpose of illustration is shown a preferred example of the invention, attention is directed first to FIGURE 1 which illustrates the complete invention apparatus including apparatus at a first work station for hemming towels along one end and for conveying and stacking them and automatically separating the threads which connect the hemmed towels. Duplicate apparatus at the second Work station, FIGURE 1, is employed to hem each towel along its second end and to separate, convey and stack the completed towels prior to final inspection. FIGURES 2 through 5 of the drawings show in some detail the typical apparatus employed at each work station in FIGURE 1 and a single description of the typical apparatus will sufiice to describe both units thereof as in FIGURE 1. 1

Referring to FIGURES 2 through 5, the apparatus employed in the practice of the method includes a suitable sewing table 10, mounting a conventional high speed sewing machine 11, beneath the presser foot 12 of which an operator seated in a chair 13, FIGURE 1, may feed continuously and rapidly one end only of each towel from a group of towels on a conveniently located table 14 near the first work station, FIGURE 1. The towels on the table 14 are completely uuhemmed as indicated by the legend in FIGURE 1.

Upon passing through the hemming sewing machine 11, the towels are actually chain-linked together by the continuous hemming thread, as is well known. Immediately adjacent the discharge side of the sewing machine 11, FIGURES 2 and 4, a first small conveyer belt 15 engages each towel as it leaves the sewing machine and frictionally feeds it along the top of table 10 and adjacent to a power-operated shear or cutter 16 which is similar to a barbers electric shear and having a cutting head 17 which projects slightly above the top surface of table 10, FIG- URE 4. The purpose of this power-operated cutter is to cleanly sever automatically the connecting thread between each towel caused by the hemming operation at the machine 11. That is to say, as the towels emerge from the sewing machine 11, hemmed along one hem only and connected by the hemming thread, the cutter 16 will cut or sever the connecting thread between each towel automatically. The towels being processed are designated 18 in FIGURE 3.

Immediately after the thread cutting operation by the cutter 16, the towels 18 leave the small conveyer 15 and enter a second conveyer section 19 involving preferably a single conveyer belt having its lower run 20 sliding over an adjustable friction shoe 21 which may be raised up and down by a power cylinder 22 or the like, under control of the operator. The hemmed end portions of the towels are fed between the belt run 20 and the shoe 21 and are frictionally fed away from the sewing machine table. If the shoe 21 is lowered by the cylinder 22 or like means, the friction on the towels is reduced so that the towels may be back-fed manually or otherwise to produce a short back stitching on the hem at the sewing machine 11. This short back stitching operation is necessary to prevent unraveling of the thread forming the hem and is a well known expedient in the art which should require no further description herein. As long as sufiicient tension is present between the elements 20 and 21, the towels 18 will be continuously fed forwardly by the belt 19. In some instances, the back-feeding of towels for back stitching is manual and in other instances the conveyer belt 19, etc. may be momentarily reversed.

Upon leaving the conveyer section 19swhich is substantiallyhorizontal, as shown, the towels advance to a generally vertical closed conveyer section 23 whose purpose is to elevate the towels toward proper engagement with a stacking device and to continue to convey them forwardly by apparatus which takes up a minimum floor space. As best shown in FIGURE 4, the conveyer section.

23 includes a housing 24 within which are mounted rotatably a pair of large vertically spaced belt pulleys 25 and 26 over which are trained in a reverse or zigzag path a pair of superposed belts 27 and 28. One or both of the pulleys 25 and 26 are powered in any convenient manner. The belt 27 is engaged by guide pulleys 29 within the housing 24 and another guide pulley 30 at the bottom of the housing and somewhat rearwardly of the large pulley 26, whereby the towels may pass directly from the belt run 20 and friction shoe 21 into the small space 31 where the belts 27 and 28 merge onto the periphery of pulley 26. The belt 27 has its lower horizontal run 32, FIG- URE 2 extending forwardly and around another guide pulley 33 journaled upon an upright frame 34. Near the top of the frame 34, the belt 27 is engaged by another guide pulley 35 and continues in a horizontal top run 36 back to the upper large pulley 25. The belt 28, FIGURE 4, passes beneath the pulley 26 and then extends upwardly in the housing 24 and around a guide pulley 37 and then extends horizontally at 38 to a guide pulley 39 immediately above the pulley 35. The belt 28 then has a horizontal return run 40 leading back to the large pulley 25.

The belts 27 and 28 travel in the direction of the arrows in FIGURE 3, and the hemmed end portions of the towels 18 are gripped between the two belts 27 and 28 and are carried upwardly on the apparatus in a reverse S- shaped path, as shown. For safety and for neatness, the housing 24 has hinged doors 41 and 42 covering the pulley system within the housing and the meeting edges of these doors, FIGURE 3, are contoured to form a continuous passage 43 which parallels the belts 27 and 28, therefore allowing the towels 18 to be conveyed upwardly and forwardly without interference.

After emerging from the top of the cabinet 24, the towels 18 are conveyed in succession horizontally in the direction of the arrow in FIGURE 3 by the belt portions 36 and 40. After clearing the conveyer section 23, the towels in succession are brought adjacent to a vertically swingable transfer rack 44, pivoted at 45 to the aforementioned frame structure 34. The transfer rack 44 may be L-shaped as shown in FIGURE for proper movement and to clear the other parts of the apparatus including the belt portion 32 without interference. The top bar 46 of the transfer rack swings directly below the belt portions 36 and 40 which are gripping the towels 18 and from which the towels are suspended substantially vertically during the final stage of conveying. The swingable rack 44 normally has its upper bar 46 behind the towels 18 and close to and beneath the belt portions 36 and 40, FIGURE 5.

When each towel 18 is directly over the transfer rack=i 44,-the same is caused to swing forwardly abruptly to the 1 broken line position shown in FIGURE 5 and this action 1 can be caused by power cylinder 47 or the like. When the rack 44 is thus actuated, the upper bar 46 simply engages the suspended towel 18 rather swiftly and pulls the towel bodily from between the belt portions 36 and 40' and deposits the towel neatly across an adjustable support or table 48 provided on the apparatus for receiving the towels. 44 in connection with each towel 18 causes neat stacking Continued operation of the transfer rack of the towels on the table 48 with their single hemmed; ends in one direction and their unhemmed ends in the opposite direction. The operation of the apparatus is continuous and a large number of towels may be rapidly hemmed on one end, separated automatically, conveyed and stacked automatically.

All of this action takes place at work station number one, referring to FIGURE 1, while a first operator is seated on chair 13. The controls for the apparatus are conventional and need not be described in detail herein.

An additional table or support 49 may be provided between the duplicate apparatuses of the first and second work stations. This is an optional feature. The stack of towels 18 hemmed along one end may be transferred from the table 48 to the table 49 so as to be close to a second operator seated on chair 50 at the second work station.

As previously explained, the second work station apparatus is a duplicate of the apparatus at work station one and shown in detail in FIGURES 2 through 5. The operator at the second work station merely takes the unhemmed ends of the towels 18 and feeds them through the sewing machine 11 and into the first conveyor section 15, in the identical manner described above in detail. Consequently, at the second work station, the second end of each towel 18 is hemmed, the thread con-,,

necting adjacent towels is automatically severed by the cutter 16 and the separated towels are conveyed to the 1 transfer rack 44 which finally stacks the towels 18 now hemmed on both ends on the receiving table 48 at the second work station. towels are ready to go directly to inspection and packaging without the necessity for manual separation, trimming and the like.

necessity for manually pulling the towels from such bin and manually separating them is dispensed with entirely.

It is felt that the advantages of the method and the apparatus for practicing the method will now be perfectly apparent to anyone skilled in the art, without the 1 necessity for further description.

It is to be understood that the form of the invention herewith shown and described is to be taken as a preferred example of the same, and that various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may. be re- 1 sorted to, without departing from the spirit of the invention or scope of the subjoined claims.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

From this second table 48, the 1 As explained previously, the customary bin which reveices the connected towels and the separate the towels by automatically severing said threads between the towels, additional means to engage and advance the towels generally horizontally in one direction from said cutter means, gripping means adapted to suecessively grip, advance and also elevate the towels, said gripping means being adapted to grip an end portion of each towel and suspend it by the end portion when it is advanced and elevated, and a transfer rack, means pivotally mounting said transfer rack for swinging movement under a portion of said gripping means, said transfer rack thereby being adapted to engage each hanging towel in succession and withdraw it from engagement with said last-named gripping means and depositing the towels in succession one upon the other in a neat stack with the hemmed ends thereof facing in one direction, whereby the identical apparatus may again act upon the same towels to hem their opposite ends, separate, advance and stack the same in completed form.

2. The invention as defined by claim 1, and a support associated with said transfer rack to receive the towels deposited thereby in stacked relation.

3. The invention as defined by claim 1, and wherein said gripping means is a pair of flexible belts which exert a suflicient gripping force on each towel to support its weight 'but readily releasing the towel when the latter is engagedby said transfer rack.

4. A method of hemming and stacking bath towels and the like comprising the steps of feeding corresponding ends of a group of towels in succession through a hemming machine to hem one end only of each towel and thereby connecting the towels in chain fashion by the hemming thread, severing said thread automatically between adjacent towels to separate the towels cleanly, .grippingly engaging each towel in succession near the hemmed end thereof and conveying the towels in freely suspended relation from their gripped ends, and then engaging each towel in succession and applying a pulling force thereto to disengage each towel from the means grippingly engaging it and substantially simultaneously depositing the towels one upon the other in an even stack.

5. The invention as defined by claim 1, and wherein said additional means to engage and advance the towels includes a release allowing the towels to be *fed rearwardly to allow back-stitching of the hem by said sewing machine to prevent unraveling.

6. In a method of hemming and stacking cloth articles and the like, the steps of engaging the articles in succession as they are discharged from a hemming and separating means and gripping each article near one end thereof to advance and to also elevate the articles while they are suspended from their gripped ends, and engaging each article in succession near and beneath its gripped end to apply a tension force on the article and thereby disengaging it from the gripping means and immediately thereafter depositing each disengaged article in stacked relation upon previously disengaged articles.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,060,511 1 1 1936 Learnard et al.

2,874,659 2/1959 Kehrer 112-10 2,940,404 6/ 1960 Damon 11210 3,066,563 12/1962 George et al l122 X 3,126,848 3/1964- Gastonguay 112-10 3,159,122 12/1964 Hedegaard 1122 3,182,617 5/1965 Laittre 112--10 3,204,590 9/1965 Rockerath et a1 1122 3,209,629 10/1965 Spivey 112-2 X 3,219,001 11/1965 Spivey et al. 1122 3,223,059 12/ 1965 Jacobs 1122 JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

I. R. BOLER, Assistant Examiner. 

1. APPARATUS FOR HEMMING AND STACKING TOWELS AND THE LIKE COMPRISING A HEMMING SEWING MACHINE THROUGH WHICH CORRESPONDING ENDS OF A PLURALITY OF TOWELS ARE FED FOR HEMMING ONE END ONLY IN SUCCESSION, MEANS TO ENGAGE AND ADVANCE EACH TOWEL AWAY FROM THE SEWING MACHINE AFTER SAID HEMMING, SAID TOWELS THEN BEING CONNECTED IN CHAIN-LIKE FASHION BY THE HEMMING THREADS, CUTTER MEANS NEAR SAID ENGAGING AND ADVANCING MEANS TO SEPARATE THE TOWELS BY AUTOMATICALLY SEVERING SAID THREADS BETWEEN THE TOWELS, ADDITIONAL MEANS TO ENGAGE AND ADVANCE THE TOWELS GENERALLY HORIZONTALLY IN ONE DIRECTION FROM SAID CUTTER MEANS, GRIPPING MEANS ADAPTED TO SUCCESSIVELY GRIP, ADVANCE AND ALSO ELEVATE THE TOWELS, SAID GRIPPING MEANS BEING ADAPTED TO GRIP AN END PORTION OF EACH TOWEL AND SUSPEND IT BY THE END PORTION WHEN IT IS ADVANCED AND ELEVATED, AND TRANSFER RACK, MEANS PIVOTALLY MOUNTING SAID TRANSFER RACK FOR SWINGING MOVEMENT UNDER A PORTION OF SAID GRIPPING MEANS, SAID TRANSFER RACK THEREBY BEING ADAPTED TO ENGAGE EACH HANGING TOWEL IN SUCCESSION AND WITHDRAW IT FROM ENGAGEMENT WITH SAID LAST-NAMED GRIPPING MEANS AND DEPOSITING THE TOWELS IN SUCCESSION ONE UPON THE OTHER IN A NEAT STACK WITH THE HEMMED ENDS THEREOF FACING IN ONE DIRECTION, WHEREBY THE IDENTICAL APPARATUS MAY AGAIN ACT UPON THE SAME TOWELS TO HEM THEIR OPPOSITE ENDS, SEPARATE, ADVANCE AND STACK THE SAME IN COMPLETED FORM. 